Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica

Trout Mask Replica is the third album by American rock band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released on June 16, 1969. Produced by Beefheart's friend and
former schoolmate Frank Zappa, it was originally released as a double album on Zappa's Straight Records label. Combining elements of R&B, garage rock, blues, avant-garde, free jazz
and other genres of American music, the album is regarded as an important work of experimental music and art rock.

Most of Trout Mask Replica was recorded in March 1969 at Whitney Studios in Glendale, California. The lineup of the Magic Band at this time consisted of Bill Harkleroad and
Jeff Cotton on guitar, Mark Boston on bass guitar, Victor Hayden on bass clarinet, and John French on drums and percussion. Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) played several brass and
woodwind instruments (including saxophone, musette, and natural horn) and contributed most of the vocal parts, while Zappa and members of the band provided occasional vocals and
narration. The well-rehearsed Magic Band recorded all instrumental tracks for Trout Mask Replica in a single six-hour recording session; Van Vliet's vocal and horn tracks were
laid down over the next few days. Upon release in the US, Trout Mask Replica sold poorly and failed to chart. It was more successful in the UK, where it spent a week at No. 21.

Today, Trout Mask Replica is widely regarded as the masterpiece of Van Vliet's musical career, as well as one of the most influential rock albums ever recorded.
The album's highly unconventional musical style, which includes polyrhythm, multi-octave vocals, and polytonality, continues to polarize audiences, and has contributed to its
reputation as one of the most challenging recordings in the 20th century musical canon.